Milwaukee is “far ahead of everybody else” in establishing itself as the international water hub, Badger Meter Chairman, President and CEO Rich Meeusen told the 65th annual meeting of the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC) Monday at the University Club.
Meeusen, a vice chair of the community leadership group consisting of 185 area CEOs, is co-chair with Ted Kellner of its Economic Development committee. He also co-chairs, with Paul Jones of A.O. Smith Corp., the Water Council, which he co-founded in 2007. Meeusen said the group’s Global Water Center, 247 W. Freshwater Way, is “now almost out of space.” The 7-story building was 70 per cent leased when it opened in September, 2013. [The GMC is one of the building’s tenants.] Meeusen said the Water Council is “successful because it is not government-run. But the Global Water Center would not exist without the efforts of the City of Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation” in addition to the council and the GMC, he said.